Can the IAEA Radioactive Materials Transport Regulations be Made more User Friendly?

Abstract

A comprehensive regulatory system governing the national and international transport of radioactive materials was put in place 30 years ago by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Time has demonstrated that it has resulted in an excellent safety record without being a significant hindrance to economic transport. The IAEA Regulations are maintained up to date in a continuous structured manner managed by the IAEA. The Regulations and the supporting explanatory and advisory material are extensive, being published in five books. However, they have tended to be more oriented to regulators than operators. Significantly, the latest revision of the IAEA Transport Regulations, issued in 1985, added provisions for quality and compliance assurance applying to all aspects of the Regulations. It is suggested in this paper that Quality Assurance could be assisted by augmenting the Regulations with computerised systems to aid the choice of packaging and to provide a check of all the actions needed for a particular transport operation, thereby making very positive steps to aid compliance. It is proposed that systems of this nature should be brought into operation at the next major revision of the Regulations, planned for 1995.